MacMillan
| Clan Crest |  |
| Crest | A dexter hand and sinister hand issuant, grasping and brandishing a two handed sword Proper |
| Motto | Miseris succurrere disco |
| Translation | I learn to assist (succour) the distressed |
| Plant | Holly |
| Gaelic name | Mac Gihille Mhaolain |
| Origin of name | Gaelic: Mac Gihille Mhaolain (son of the bald or tonsured one.) |
MacMillan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
It is a curious fact that even in the heart of Gaelic-speaking societies an English form of patronymic was sometimes adopted. But although the Davidsons were members of the Clan Chattan confederation, they do not descend from a man called David of the Mackintosh clan nor, apparently, of any other clan within this alliance. They seem to have been a totally independent tribe which was led by a Moses of the name of David Dubh into the relative safety of the Mackintosh fold.
Before that time, the great massif of the northern Grampians and the plains of Buchan and Moray had been dominated by the Comyn family, the most powerful in Scotland until Robert Bruce destroyed it. In the hiatus that followed Bruce's devastation of Buchan and the plantation of his supporters throughout this region, it was natural that communities that flourished under the Comyns should seek new protectors. It is particularly understandable that they should seek it in the old Celtic tribal context that was familiar to them, rather than under new alien feudal overlords. Such at any rate, were the circumstances in which David Dubh led the clan which has ever since been called the Davidsons into the association of Clan Chattan.
In the long run, it brought them neither security nor prosperity. They were involved in many an unprofitable clan conflict, in one which they were thought to have been very nearly annihilated in 1396. Few of their name is any longer to be found in the Highlands.
MacMillan Tartans
